Search form

Search form

John McCain's campaign recently made news by releasing an ad called "Lipstick" that references an ongoing imbroglio over remarks made by rival candidate Barack Obama involving a folksy witticism about the application of cosmetics to livestock. At 35 seconds long, the ad has yet to appear on TV, but it is making news because of the media's willingness to cover the back-and-forth of unaired spots released by the campaigns. The tactic of getting coverage from such "ghost ads" or "vapor ads" has been used by both candidates. Evan Tracey, head of CMAG, said: "Ten years ago, this was the number one sin between journalists and the campaign. No one [in the media] wanted to be seen as taking the campaign's bait. Now there's a willingness on the part of both parties to use and be used. There's a much bigger appetite to accept this kind of content."

Related Summaries

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Migratory Bird Center is using GPS to tag a long-billed curlew with a dwindling population that's found in the Southeast. "The birds were once abundant in the marshes of the Southeast, but are now rarely seen, making them like ghosts," said Autumn-Lynn Harrison, an ecologist with the Smithsonian. "Thanks to one tagged bird, we’re finally going to get answers and discover this unknown migration."

With whole, largely unoccupied "ghost" cities already built and vast new urban living spaces now under construction, fears are growing that China's building boom will come to haunt the nation's economy. Although the urbanization drive is still viewed as a net positive, dissenting voices are rising amid fears that the shadow banking system that funds many of these projects could collapse. "We believe that a sharp property market correction could lead to a systemic crisis in China, and we regard it as the biggest risk that China's economy faces," said Zhang Zhiwei, a Nomura research analyst.

John McCain's campaign recently made news by releasing an ad called "Lipstick" that references an ongoing imbroglio over remarks made by rival candidate Barack Obama involving a folksy witticism about the application of cosmetics to livestock. At 35 seconds long, the ad has yet to appear on TV, but it is making news because of the media's willingness to cover the back-and-forth of unaired spots released by the campaigns. The tactic of getting coverage from such "ghost ads" or "vapor ads" has been used by both candidates. Evan Tracey, head of CMAG, said: "Ten years ago, this was the number one sin between journalists and the campaign. No one [in the media] wanted to be seen as taking the campaign's bait. Now there's a willingness on the part of both parties to use and be used. There's a much bigger appetite to accept this kind of content."

John McCain's campaign recently made news by releasing an ad called "Lipstick" that references an ongoing imbroglio over remarks made by rival candidate Barack Obama involving a folksy witticism about the application of cosmetics to livestock. At 35 seconds long, the ad has yet to appear on TV, but it is making news because of the media's willingness to cover the back-and-forth of unaired spots released by the campaigns. The tactic of getting coverage from such "ghost ads" or "vapor ads" has been used by both candidates. Evan Tracey, head of CMAG, said: "Ten years ago, this was the number one sin between journalists and the campaign. No one [in the media] wanted to be seen as taking the campaign's bait. Now there's a willingness on the part of both parties to use and be used. There's a much bigger appetite to accept this kind of content."

Whether it's a presidential campaign or a business, the captain needs to be at the wheel -- but maybe not all the time. Perhaps that's one thing we could all learn from Sen. Barack Obama. Obama's campaign chair says the candidate's rapid rise in politics has been helped by his keen ability to judge which issues need his immediate attention and which don't.